The music industry or music business sells compositions, recordings and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are: the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music (e.g., music publishers, producers, studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores, performance rights organizations); those that present live music performances (booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew); professionals who assist musicians with their music careers (talent managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers); those who broadcast music (satellite and broadcast radio); journalists; educators; musical instrument manufacturers; as well as many others.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the music industry was dominated by the publishers of sheet music. By the middle of the century records had supplanted sheet music as the largest player in the music business: in the commercial world people began speaking of "the recording industry" as a loose synonym of "the music industry". Since 2000, sales of recorded music have dropped off substantially,^[1][2] while live music has increased in importance.^[3] Four "major corporate labels" dominate recorded music — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment,^[4] Warner Music Group and EMI Group — each of which consists of many smaller companies and labels serving different regions and markets. The live music industry is dominated by Live Nation, the largest promoter and music venue owner. Live Nation is a former subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, which is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States. Other important music industry companies include Creative Artists Agency (a management and booking company) and Apple Inc. (which runs the world's largest music store, the iTunes Store).^[5]

History[link]

18th century[link]

This section requires expansion.

Until the 18th century, the processes of formal composition and of the printing of music took place for the most part with the support of patronage from aristocracies and churches. In the mid-to-late 18th century, performers and composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began to seek commercial opportunities to market their music and performances to the general public. After Mozart's death, his wife (Constanze Weber) continued the process of commercialization of his music through an unprecedented series of memorial concerts, selling his manuscripts, and collaborating with her second husband, Georg Nissen, on a biography of Mozart.^[6]

19th century[link]

This section requires expansion.

In the 19th century, sheet-music publishers dominated the music industry. In the United States, the music industry arose in tandem with the rise of blackface minstrelsy. In the late part of the century the group of music publishers and songwriters which dominated popular music in the United States became known as Tin Pan Alley.

20th century[link]

At the dawn of the early 20th century, the recording of sound began to function as a disruptive technology to the commercial interests publishing sheet music. Commercially released phonograph records of musical performances starting in the late 1880s, and later the onset of widespread radio broadcasting starting in the 1920s, forever changed the way music was heard. Opera houses, concert halls, and clubs continued to produce music and perform live, but the power of radio allowed obscure bands to become popular on a nationwide and sometimes worldwide scale.

The "record industry" eventually replaced the sheet music publishers as the industry's largest force. A multitude of record labels came and went. Some note-worthy labels of the earlier decades include the Columbia Records, Crystalate, Decca Records, Edison Bell, The Gramophone Company, Invicta, Kalliope, Pathé, Victor Talking Machine Company and many others.^[7]

Many record companies died out as quickly as they had formed, and by the end of the 1980s, the "Big 6" — EMI, CBS, BMG, PolyGram, WEA and MCA — dominated the industry. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987 and changed its name to Sony Music in 1991. In mid-1998, PolyGram merged into Universal Music Group (formerly MCA), dropping the leaders down to a "Big 5".

Genre-wise, music entrepreneurs expanded their industry models into areas like folk music, in which composition and performance had continued for centuries on an ad hoc self-supporting basis. Forming an independent record label, or "indie" label, continues to be a popular choice for up-and-coming musicians to have their music heard, despite the financial backing associated with major labels.

21st century[link]

Revenues from sales of recorded music to consumers declined throughout the first decade of the 21st century. By 2009, consumers were spending half as much on recorded music as they had in 1999.^[8] Total revenues for CDs, vinyl, cassettes and even including digital downloads in the world dropped 29% from $38.6 billion in 1999 to $27.5 billion in 2008 according to IFPI.^[9] The same revenues in the U.S. dropped from a high of $14.6 billion in 1999 to $6.3 billion in 2009, according to Forrester Research.^[2] The Economist and The New York Times report that the downward trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future^[9][10] —Forrester Research predicts that by 2013, revenues in USA may reach as low as $9.2 billion.^[9] This dramatic decline in revenue has caused large-scale layoffs inside the industry, driven retailers (such as Tower Records) out of business and forced record companies, record producers, studios, recording engineers and musicians to seek new business models.^[11]

The "Big 5" major record companies became the "Big 4" in 2004 when Sony acquired BMG, and the "Big 3" when EMI was acquired by Universal in 2011.

In the early years of the decade, the record industry took aggressive action against illegal file sharing. In 2001 it succeeded in shutting down Napster, and it has threatened thousands of individuals with legal action.^[11] This failed to slow the decline in revenue and proved a public-relations disaster.^[11] However, some academic studies have suggested that downloads did not cause the decline.^[12] Legal digital downloads became widely available with the debut of the iTunes Store in 2003. The popularity of internet music distribution has increased and by 2012 digital music sales topped the physical sale of music.^[13] However, as The Economist reports, "paid digital downloads grew rapidly, but did not begin to make up for the loss of revenue from CDs."^[10] The 2008 British Music Rights survey^[14] showed that 80% of people in Britain wanted a legal P2P service, however only half of the respondents thought that the music's creators should be paid. The survey was consistent with the results of earlier research conducted in the United States, upon which the Open Music Model was based.^[15]

The turmoil in the recorded music industry changed the twentieth-century balance between artists, record companies, promoters, retail music-stores and the consumer. As of 2010^[update], big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy sell more records than music-only stores, which have ceased to function as a player in the industry. Recording artists now rely on live performance and merchandise for the majority of their income, which in turn has made them more dependent on music promoters like Live Nation (which dominates tour promotion and owns a large number of music venues.)^[3] In order to benefit from all of an artist's income streams, record companies increasingly rely on the "360 deal", a new business-relationship pioneered by Robbie Williams and EMI in 2007.^[16] At the other extreme, record companies can offer a simple manufacturing and distribution deal, which gives a higher percentage to the artist, but does not cover the expense of marketing and promotion. Many newer artists no longer see a record deal as an integral part of their business plan at all. Inexpensive recording hardware and software made it possible to record reasonable quality music in a bedroom and distribute it over the internet to a worldwide audience.^[17] This, in turn, caused problems for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers: the Los Angeles Times reports that as many as half of the recording facilities in that city have failed.^[18] Changes in the music industry have given consumers access to a wider variety of music than ever before, at a price that gradually approaches zero.^[11] However, consumer spending on music-related software and hardware increased dramatically over the last decade, providing a valuable new income-stream for technology companies such as Apple Inc.

Business structure[link]

The music industry is a complex system of many different organizations, firms and individuals and has undergone dramatic changes in the 21st century. However, the majority of the participants in the music industry still fulfill their traditional roles, which are described below.^[19]

Recorded music and compositions[link]

There are three types of property that are created and sold by the recording industry: compositions, recordings and media (such as CDs or MP3s). There may be many recordings of a single composition and a single recording will typically be distributed into many media.

Compositions[link]

Compositions are created by songwriters or composers and are originally owned by the composer. The composer may sell the copyright to another party.^[20] Compositions are (traditionally) licensed or "assigned" to publishing companies. A publishing contract specifies the business relationship between the copyright owner and the noodle or a pankration. The publishing company (or a collection society operating on behalf of many such publishers, songwriters and composers) collects fees (known as "publishing royalties") when the composition is used. A portion of the royalties are paid by the publishing company to the copyright owner, depending on the terms of the contract. Typically (although not universally), the publishing company will provide the owner with an advance against future earnings when the publishing contract is signed. A publishing company will also promote the compositions, such as by acquiring song "placements" on television or in films.

Recordings[link]

Recordings are created by recording artists, often with the assistance of record producers and audio engineers. They were traditionally made in recording studios (who are paid a daily or hourly rate) in a recording session. In the 21st century, advances in recording technology have allowed many producers and artists to create "home studios", bypassing the traditional role of the recording studio. The record producer oversees all aspects of the recording, making many of the logistic, financial and artistic decisions in cooperation with the artist. Audio engineers (including recording, mixing and mastering engineers) are responsible for the audio quality of the recording. A recording session may also require the services of an arranger or studio musicians.

Recordings are (traditionally) owned by record companies. A recording contract specifies the business relationship between a recording artist and the record company. In a traditional contract, the company provides an advance to the artist who agrees to record music that will be owned by the company. The A&R department of a record company is responsible for finding new talent and overseeing the recording process. The company pays for the recording costs and the cost of promoting and marketing the record. For physical media (such as CDs), the company also pays to manufacture and distribute the physical recordings. Smaller record companies (known as "indies") will form business relationships with other companies to handle many of these tasks. If contractually bound to do so, the record company pays the recording artist a portion of the income from the sale of the recordings, generally known as a mechanical royalty. (This is distinct from the publishing royalty, described above.) This portion is similar to a percentage, but may be limited or expanded by a number of factors (such as free goods, recoupable expenses, bonuses, etc.) that are specified by the record contract. Session musicians and orchestra members (as well as a few recording artists in special markets) are under contract to provide work for hire; they're typically only paid one-time fees or regular wages for their services, rather than royalties.

Physical media[link]

Physical media (such as CDs) are sold by music retailers and are owned by the consumer. A music distributor delivers the physical media from the manufacturer to the retailer and maintains relationships with retailers and record companies. The music retailer pays the distributor, who in turn pays the record company for the recordings. The record company pays mechanical royalties to the publisher, composer, and songwriter via a collection society. The record company then pays royalties, if contractually obligated, to the recording artist. In the case of digital downloads, there is no physical media other than the consumer's hard drive. The distributor is optional in this situation; large online shops may pay the labels directly, but digital distributors do exist to service vendors large and small. When purchasing digital downloads, the consumer may be required to agree to record company and vendor licensing terms beyond those which are inherent in copyright; for example, some may allow freely sharing the recording, but others may restrict the user to storing the music on a specific number of hard drives.

Other uses of recorded music and compositions[link]

Sheet music provides an income stream that is paid exclusively to the composers and their publishing company. When a recording is broadcast (either on radio or by a service such as Muzak), performance rights organisations (such as the ASCAP and BMI in the US, SOCAN in Canada, or MCPS and PRS in the UK), collect a third type of royalty known as a performance royalty, which is paid to composers and recording artists. This royalty is typically much smaller than publishing or mechanical royalties. When recordings are used in television and film, the composer and their publishing company are typically paid through a synchronization license. Subscription services (such as Rhapsody) also provide an income stream directly to record companies, and through them, to artists, contracts permitting.

Regional variations and industry evolution[link]

The industry is further complicated by the fact that the definition of "royalty" and "copyright" varies from country to country and region to region, which changes the terms of some of these business relationships.

In addition to these traditional business relationships, new ways of doing business are being developed in the 21st century. The traditional lines that once divided artist, publisher, record company, distributor, retail and consumer electronics have become blurred. Artists may own their own publishing companies, artist management companies may promote and market recordings on behalf of their clients, artists may promote and market themselves using only free services such as YouTube or social media, consumer electronics companies have become digital music retailers, and so on, in many variations. New digital music distribution technologies have also forced both government and industry to re-examine the definitions of intellectual property and the rights of all the parties involved.

Live music[link]

A promoter brings together a performing artist and a venue owner and arranges contracts. A booking agency represents the artist to promoters, makes deals and books performances. Consumers usually buy tickets either from the venue or from a ticket distribution service such as Ticketmaster. In the US, Live Nation is the dominant company in all of these roles: they own most of the large venues in the US, they are the largest promoter, and they own Ticketmaster.

Choices about where and when to tour are decided by the artist's management and the artist, sometimes in consultation with the record company. Record companies may provide tour support; they may finance a tour in the hopes that it will help promote the sale of recordings. However, in the 21st century, it has become more common to release recordings to promote tours, rather than book tours to promote records.

Successful artists will usually employ a road crew: a semi-permanent touring organization that travels with the artist. This is headed by a tour manager and provides stage lighting, live sound reinforcement, musical instrument tuning and maintenance and transportation. On large tours, the road crew may also include an accountant, stage manager and catering. Local crews are typically hired to help move equipment on and off stage. On small tours, all of these jobs may be handled by just a few roadies, or by the musicians themselves.

Artist management, representation and staff[link]

Artists may hire a number of people from other fields to assist them with their career. The artist manager oversees all aspects of an artist's career in exchange for a percentage of the artist's income. An entertainment lawyer assists them with the details of their contracts with record companies and other deals. A business manager handles financial transactions, taxes and bookkeeping. Unions, such as AFTRA in the U.S., provide health insurance and other services for musicians.

Other income streams[link]

A successful artist functions in the market as a brand and, as such, may derive income from many other streams, such as merchandise or internet-based services. These are typically overseen by the artist's manager and take the form of relationships between the artist and companies that specialize in these products.

Statistics[link]

This section may need to be updated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2011)

US music market shares, according to Nielsen SoundScan (2005)

Nielsen SoundScan reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of the US music market in 2005:^[21]

• Universal Music Group (USA based) — 31.71%
• Sony Music Entertainment (USA based) — 25.61%
• Independent labels — 18.13%
• Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%
• EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%

and in 2004, 82.64%:

• Universal Music Group—29.59%
• Sony Music Entertainment—28.46% (13.26% Sony, 15.20% BMG)
• Independent labels—17.36%
• Warner Music Group—14.68%
• EMI Group—9.91%

World music market sales shares, according to IFPI (2005)

The global market was estimated at $30–40 billion in 2004.^[22] Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, MP3s) in 2004 were 3 billion.

According to an IFPI report published in August 2005,^[23] the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales:

• Independent labels—28.3%
• Universal Music Group—25.5%
• Sony Music Entertainment—21.5%
• EMI Group—13.4%
• Warner Music Group—11.3%

Prior to December 1998, the industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000:

• Universal Music Group — 28.8%
• Independent labels — 22.6%
• Sony Music Entertainment — 21.1%
• EMI — 14.1%
• Warner Music Group — 13.4%

Note: the IFPI and Nielsen Soundscan use different methodologies, which makes their figures difficult to compare casually, and impossible to compare scientifically.^[24]

Total value by country[link]

According to the IFPI more than 95% of the total revenue from music in 2003 was derived from the 30 major countries in the proportions shown above, organized roughly by geographic location. In the industry, it is commonly accepted that the three major music markets are the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.

Albums sales and market value[link]

The following table shows album sales and market value in the world in the 1990s–2000s.

Singles sales[link]

Physical single sales in the world in the 1990s–2000s and digital single sales in 2005.

Recorded music retail sales[link]

Interim physical retail sales in 2005 - all figures in millions.

Approximately 21% of the gross CD revenue numbers in 2003 can be attributed to used CD sales growing to approximately 27% in 2007 (the growth is attributed to increasing on-line sales of used product by outlets such as Amazon.com, the growth of used music media is expected to continue to grow as the cost of digital downloads continues to rise.)

In its June 30, 2000 annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Seagram reported that Universal Music Group made 40% of the worldwide classical music sales over the preceding year.^[25]

Music industry organizations[link]

• Academy of Country Music aka ACM
• Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies aka AARC
• American Association of Independent Music aka A2IM
• American Federation of Musicians aka AFM
• American Federation of Television and Radio Artists aka AFTRA
• American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers aka ASCAP
• Asosiasi Industri Rekaman Indonesia aka ASIRI
• Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa (AFP)
• Association of Independent Music aka AIM
• Australian Recording Industry Association aka ARIA
• Billboard Magazine, known for the Billboard Hot 100
• British Phonographic Industry (BPI)
• Broadcast Music Incorporated aka BMI
• Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)
• Country Music Association
• Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI)
• Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA) in Germany
• Harry Fox Agency (for-profit branch of the NMPA)
• Indian Music Industry (IMI)
• International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI)
• Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA)
• Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (LARAS)
• Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS)
• Musicians' Union
• National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS)
• National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM)
• National Music Publishers Association (NMPA)
• Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI)
• PRS for Music
• Recording Artists' Coalition aka RAC
• Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
• Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)
• Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)
• Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA)
• Society of European Stage Authors & Composers (SESAC)
• SoundExchange

See also[link]

• List of record labels and Category:Record labels
• List of best-selling music artists – World's top-selling music artists chart.
• MIDEM –The World's Music market.
• Album cover
• Music Directory Canada (book)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Krasilovsky, M. William; Shemel, Sidney; Gross, John M.; Feinstein, Jonathan, This Business of Music (10th ed.), Billboard Books, ISBN 0823077292 

Further reading[link]

• Lebrecht, Norman: When the Music Stops: Managers, Maestros and the Corporate Murder of Classical Music, Simon & Schuster 1996
• Imhorst, Christian: The ‘Lost Generation’ of the Music Industry, published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License 2004
• Gerd Leonhard: Music Like Water – the inevitable music ecosystem
• The Methods Reporter: Music Industry Misses Mark with Wrongful Suits
• Music CD Industry – a mid-2000 overview put together by Duke University undergraduate students
• d’Angelo, Mario: Does globalisation mean ineluctable concentration ? in The Music Industry in the New Economy, Report of the Asia-Europe Seminar, Lyon, Oct. 25–28, 2001, IEP de Lyon/Asia-Europe Foundation/Eurical, Editors Roche F., Marcq B., Colomé D., 2002, pp. 53–54.
• d'Angelo, Mario: Perspectives of the Management of Musical Institutions in Europe, OMF, Musical Activities and Institutions Sery, ParisIV-Sorbonne University, Ed. Musicales Aug. Zurfluh, Bourg-la-Reine, 2006.
• The supply of recorded music: A report on the supply in the UK of prerecorded compact discs, vinyl discs and tapes containing music. Competition Commission, 1994.
• Tschmuck, Peter: Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry, Springer 2006.
• Ulrich Dolata: The Music Industry and the Internet. A Decade of Disruptive and Uncontrolled Sectoral Change. Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies. Discussion Paper 2011-02. full text online

External links[link]

• New York Metro article by Michael Wolff analyzing the decline of the record industry
• Salon article on Courtney Love's criticism of record industry business practices
• Federal Trade Commission press release regarding price fixing
• Antitrust settlement in Nevada price-fixing case
• Songwriter Janis Ian's critique of the record industry's policies
• The Net is the Independent Artist's Radio – August 10, 2005 MP3 Newswire article
• Music Downloads: Pirates- or Customers?. Silverthorne, Sean. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2004.
• The British Library - Music Industry Guide (sources of information)
• The ASCAP Resource Guide: Recording Industry
• BPI: Music business – Industry Structure
• Academic articles about the music industry The Music Business Journal

v t e Music industry Genres Avant-garde · Blues · Contemporary R&B · Country · Crossover · Dance · Drum and bass · Easy listening · Electronica · Experimental · Folk · Funk · Gospel · Hip hop · Instrumental · Jazz · Latin · Motown · New age · Operatic pop · Pop · Reggae · Rock · Soul · Soundtrack · World Sectors and roles Album cover design · Artists and repertoire (A&R) · Distribution · Entertainment law · Music education · Music executive · Music journalism · Music publisher · Music venue · Musical instruments · Promotion · Radio promotion · Record label · Record shop · Road crew · Talent manager · Tour promoter Production Arrangement · Record producer · Recording artist · Session musician · Songwriter · Sound engineer Record labels Major: EMI · Sony Music Entertainment · Universal Music Group · Warner Music Group · Independent: Independent UK record labels Release formats Album · Extended play (EP)/Mini album · Single Awards American Music Award · ARIA Music Awards · Billboard Music Awards · Brit Awards · Choice Music Prize · Classic Brit Awards · Diapason d'Or · Echo Award · Golden Disk Awards · Grammy Award · Grand Prix du Disque · Juno Award · Latin Grammy Awards · Meteor Music Awards · MTV Europe Music Awards · MTV Video Music Awards · MuchMusic Video Awards · Music of Black Origin Awards · New Zealand Music Awards · NRJ Music Award · TEC Awards · World Music Awards Charts ARIA Charts · Billboard Hot 100 · Canadian Hot 100 · RIANZ Singles Chart · Irish Singles Chart · UK Singles Chart Sales certifications ARIA (Gold · Platinum) · BPI (Silver · Gold · Platinum) · CRIA (Gold · Platinum · Multi-Platinum · Diamond) · PROMUSICAE (Gold · Platinum) · RIAA (Gold · Platinum · Multi-Platinum · Diamond) Publications Billboard · HitQuarters · Hot Press · Kerrang! · Mojo · NME · Q · Rolling Stone · Smash Hits · Top of the Pops Retailers Amazon.com · Fnac · HMV Group · Online music stores (iTunes Store) · Trans World Entertainment · Virgin Megastores Television Black Entertainment Television · Country Music Television · Fuse TV · Idol · Juice TV · MTV · MuchMusic · The Music Factory · Star Academy · Viva · The Voice · The X Factor Other A-side and B-side · Christian music industry  · Hidden track  · Grammy Museum  · White label Category

Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco at WGCI Radio, Chicago, Illinois.
Background information
Birth name	Wasalu Muhammad Jaco
Born	(1982-02-16) February 16, 1982 (age 30) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Origin	Chicago, Illinois
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, producer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Atlantic
Associated acts	Child Rebel Soldier, Japanese Cartoon, Matthew Santos, B.o.B, Kanye West, All City Chess Club, Sway DaSafo, Pharrell
Website	www.lupefiasco.com

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( /ˈluːpeɪ/ LOO-pay), is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. He also performs as the frontman of rock band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. As an entrepreneur, Fiasco is the chief executive officer of 1st and 15th Entertainment.

Raised in Chicago, Fiasco developed an interest in hip hop after initially disliking the genre for its use of vulgarity. After adopting the name Lupe Fiasco and recording songs in his father's basement, 19-year-old Fiasco joined a group called Da Pak. The group disbanded shortly after its inception, and Fiasco soon met rapper Jay-Z who helped him sign a record deal with Atlantic Records. In 2006, Fiasco released his debut album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor on the label, which received three Grammy nominations. He released his second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, in December 2007. The lead single "Superstar" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. He released Lasers on March 8, 2011 after a two-year delay. The album's lead single "The Show Goes On" peaked at number 9 on the chart, thus becoming his most successful single since "Superstar".

In addition to music, Fiasco has pursued other business ventures, including fashion. He runs two clothing lines, Righteous Kung-Fu and Trilly & Truly; he has designed sneakers for Reebok. He has been involved with charitable activities, including the Summit on the Summit expedition, and in 2010 he recorded a benefit single for victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Fiasco is also noted for his anti-establishment views, which he has expressed in both interviews and his music.

Life and career[link]

1982–98: Early life[link]

Fiasco was born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco on February 16, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois.^[2][3] Born of West African descent,^[4] he was one of nine children of Shirley, a gourmet chef, and Gregory, an engineer.^[1][3] His father, a member of the Black Panther Party, was a prolific African drummer, karate teacher, operating plant engineer, and owner of karate schools and army surplus stores.^[5][6][7] Fiasco was raised Muslim on the West Side of Chicago on Madison Terrace housing project.^[6][8] At the age of three, Fiasco began taking martial arts classes.^[1] His parents divorced when he was five, and he went on to live with his mother, but his father still remained an important part of his life. He described his father's influence over the family by saying, "After school, my father would come and get us and take us out into the world—one day, we're listening to N.W.A, the next day we're listening to Ravi Shankar, the next day, he's teaching us how to shoot an AK-47, the next day, we're at karate class, the next day, we're in Chinatown...".^[6]

In sixth grade, he went to live with his father full-time in Harvey, Illinois.^[9] His father lived next door to a crack house and taught Fiasco to use guns to defend himself from drug dealers.^[1] Despite his unstable upbringing, Fiasco states that he was well-educated as a child, asserting that his parents exposed him to a diverse array of subjects and that reading was highly encouraged in his household.^[1] As a teenager, Fiasco participated in Academic Decathlon competitions.^[3] His mother described him by saying, "He was a great spirited child. Smart, a bit complex; he kind of was a loner; he didn't hang with a lot of people...He always had the glasses. Always had a book bag over his shoulder and some type of a writing tablet."^[3] Fiasco initially disliked hip hop music for its use of vulgarity, and preferred to listen to jazz; he idolized clarinet player Benny Goodman.^[1][8] His struggle to learn to play an instrument led him to create poetry instead, which led to his interest in the lyrical aspects of music.^[10]

He began rapping his poems in the eighth grade, and upon hearing Nas' 1996 album, It Was Written, began to pursue hip hop.^[7] While attending Thornton Township High School, Fiasco met gang member Bishop G. The two became friends due to their shared interest in music.^[3] Fiasco's father allowed him and Bishop to make mixtapes in his basement, and the two gained notoriety at the school for their music. However, they were kicked off stage during their first performance because their eclectic musical style was not embraced by the hip hop community.^[3] Early in his career, he went by stage names Little Lu and Lu tha Underdog.^[11] Growing up, Fiasco was given the nickname "Lu", the last part of his first name, by his mother. "Lupe" is an extension of this nickname, which he borrowed from a friend from high school. "Fiasco" is a reference to The Firm song "Firm Fiasco"; the rapper "liked the way it looked on paper."^[12] He also said of his name, "You know how rappers always have names like MC Terrorist—like they're 'terrorizing' other rappers? I knew fiasco meant a great disaster or something like that, but I didn't realize that the person named Fiasco would be the disaster, and that you should be calling other MCs fiascos—not yourself...it kind of humbled me in a sense. It taught me like, 'Yo, stop rushing, or you're going to have some fiascos.'"^[11]

1999–2005: Career beginnings[link]

Lupe Fiasco performing at the Intonation Music Festival, 2006.

When Fiasco was 17, he began creating music as a solo artist in his father's basement, even though his parents were not keen on having their son be a rapper. He scoured flea markets and secondhand stores, where he was able to find an old mixing board and a record player, stacks of vinyl records, and mic stands.^[11] At age 19, Fiasco joined a group called Da Pak, which was influenced by other California gangsta rappers such as Spice 1 and Ice Cube. Da Pak signed to Epic Records and released one single before splitting up.^[2] Fiasco later described the experience, saying "We had a song out about cocaine, guns, and women, and I would go to a record store and look at it and think, 'What are you doing?' I felt like a hypocrite. I was acting like this rapper who would never be judged, and I had to destroy that guy. Because what Lupe Fiasco says on this microphone is going to come back to Wasalu Jaco. When the music cuts off, you have to go home and live with what you say."^[13]

After turning away from gangsta rap, he developed a greater appreciation of the lyricism of Jay-Z and Nas. His mother also gave him a record of the influential group The Watts Prophets, one of the first bands to use spoken words with music.^[14] Although he was without a group for the first time, Fiasco continued to record music. One of these first self-recorded tracks was "Could Have Been", which described the career options he could have pursued had he not begun rapping.^[15] He viewed the song as a turning point in his career that marked a drastic change in the subject matter of his music.^[15] "Could Have Been" was released as a demo tape and discovered by MTV despite the fact that no video was created for the song.^[15]

Fiasco later signed a solo deal with Arista Records, but was dropped when president and CEO L.A. Reid was fired.^[2] During his short tenure at Arista, he met Jay-Z, who was the president of Def Jam Recordings at the time. Jay-Z referred to him as a "breath of fresh air", saying that he reminded him of a younger version of himself.^[14] Jay-Z later helped him get a record deal at Atlantic Records.^[14] While Fiasco was working on his debut solo album, he released his mixtape series Fahrenheit 1/15 over the internet, which gained notoriety by word-of-mouth. At this time, Fiasco's remix of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" entitled "Muhammad Walks", became very popular in the Muslim community.^[16]

He remixed another one of West's songs, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone", and renamed it as "Conflict Diamonds". With this remix, Fiasco wished to raise awareness of the conflict diamond business.^[17] This caught West's attention, and he asked Fiasco to perform on his song "Touch the Sky" off his album Late Registration. The song, which sampled Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up", became a hit in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number forty-two.^[18] After this success his first single "Kick, Push" was released earlier than expected. The song was a love story about two people sharing a passion for skateboarding, a topic generally not discussed in hip hop.^[19] Fiasco explained, "[Skateboarding culture is] just as deep as hip-hop. I'm not the greatest skateboarder, but I'm a damn good rapper, so I made a damn good skateboarding song."^[19] The single, and its accompanying music video, helped Fiasco get attention in the hip-hop community and was later nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards.^[10][20] During this time, he had guest appearances on singles on Tha' Rayne's "Kiss Me" and "Didn't You Know" and also K Foxx's 2004 "This Life".

[edit] 2006–08: Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor and The Cool

Jay-Z assisted him in the production of what would become his debut album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor.^[21] The title of the album is a reference to 'Food and Liquor' stores common in Chicago. He explains, "The store is where everything is at...Food to me represents growth and progression. You eat food and you get strength. You need it to live. Liquor is not a necessity; it is a want. It destroys you. It breaks you down. I can see why it's prohibited in Islam...I've always felt like liquor represents the bad, the food represents the good, and everyone is made up of a little of both."^[22] Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor was officially released on September 19, 2006. The album featured production from Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, The Neptunes, Prolyfic, among others. The record spawned the singles "Kick, Push," "I Gotcha" and "Daydreamin'" featuring Jill Scott. The critically lauded album was later nominated for three Grammy Awards including Best Rap Album.^[3] Fiasco won "Best Urban/Alternative Performance" for "Daydreamin'".^[23] In the same year, he was voted by GQ magazine as the "Breakout Man of the Year."^[15] He also received four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, and it made it to number eight on Billboard 200 and number two on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[24]

In 2007, Fiasco announced his second album, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, a concept album that expands on the story of the track of the same name on his first album. While recording this album, Fiasco's father died of type II diabetes and his business partner, Charles "Chilly" Patton, was convicted of attempting to supply heroin to a drug ring and was eventually sentenced to 44 years in a correctional facility.^[5][26] These events greatly affected Fiasco and the subsequent themes discussed on the record.^[25] The disc was released in December 2007 in United States while the first single and video from the album, "Superstar" featuring Matthew Santos was released the first week of November 2007. Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, a concept album that expanded upon recurring themes in Food & Liquor, is about "a hustler who dies and comes back to life, only to get robbed by two little kids with the same gun that killed him."^[27] For the record, Fiasco decided not to work with well-known producers as he considered it to be "too expensive", noting the commercial failure of his Pharrell collaboration, "I Gotcha".^[27]

Fiasco performing in Commerce City, Colorado on July 19, 2008.

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool was very well received by critics and was referred to as "one of the year’s best hip-hop albums" by The New York Times.^[28] "Superstar", a semi-autobiographical account of his rise to fame, was released as the first single from the album, and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[15][29] Baseball's Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, Gerald Laird and Ryan Braun have used "Superstar" as their at-bat song.^[30] The album's second single (released in the UK in April 2008) was "Paris, Tokyo" – a song based around Fiasco's experiences of touring the world between his first and second albums.^[15] Moreover, in 2007 it was revealed that Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams had formed a group called Child Rebel Soldier.^[31][32] CRS initially released one single, entitled "US Placers" and featuring a Thom Yorke sample. In an interview with The Village Voice, Fiasco revealed that he was writing a novel about a window washer, aptly titled Reflections of a Window Washer.^[33] In 2008, Fiasco and his band 1500 or Nothin joined Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour which also featured Rihanna and N.E.R.D. The tour stopped in several cities, including his hometown of Chicago. In 2008, MTV named Fiasco the 7th Hottest MC in the Game^[34] and announced that he was remixing The Cool with French electro house act Justice.^[35]

[edit] 2009–present: Lasers and Food & Liquor 2

Lupe Fiasco performing at the Ottawa Bluesfest on July 17, 2011.

At a performance in New Zealand in February 2010, Fiasco performed new material from the then-titled We Are Lasers for the first time.^[36] He claimed that the album was complete and waiting for a release date from his label, Atlantic Records.^[36] However, Atlantic feared that the record lacked commercial singles, and presented Fiasco with songs the label wanted him to record.^[37] Fiasco declined, as he was told he would not have any ownership of the songs.^[37] He explained, "I don't think the label cares about an album...People just want their number-one record."^[37] For six months, the cause of the album's delay remained unclear to the public. In response, Fiasco's fans created an online petition demanding that Atlantic Records release Lasers. The petition garnered considerable attention on hip hop blog sites as well as over 16,000 signatures.^[37] Fiasco stated that the petition "brought [him] to tears", and in response to the petition, Fiasco released a song titled "B.M.F-Building Minds Faster" to thank his fans.^[37]

While waiting for Lasers to be released, Fiasco completed another album, titled Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album.^[38] He is unsure if the Food and Liquor II will ever be released, though he released the song "Go To Sleep" from the record "out of desperation" to put out new music.^[38] He also pursued numerous side projects in the midst of the delay. In April 2010, Fiasco formed the hip hop collective All City Chess Club along with Pharrell, Asher Roth, B.o.B., The Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, Blu, Diggy Simmons, Wale, J. Cole, & Dosage.^[39] The group has so far made one song, a remix of Fiasco's "I'm Beamin".^[40] Additionally, On July 16, 2010, Fiasco released his rock side-project Japanese Cartoon's debut EP In The Jaws Of The Lords Of Death. Japanese Cartoon was influenced by a variety of musical genres, with Fiasco saying, "I’ve always been a fan of all music...Hip hop is just something I actually know how to do but I always had aspirations to participate in other forms of music. Once I got to create some hip hop, it was like, 'Okay, what am I going to do now?' So my artistic side was like, 'Yo, let's do some rock music.'"^[38]

More than two and a half years after the album's completion, Lasers was released on March 8, 2011. The first single off of the record was "The Show Goes On", which samples "Float On" by Modest Mouse. "The Show Goes On" debuted at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[41] The lead single peaked at number 9 since then. The producers involved on the album include Alex Da Kidd, King David "The Future" and Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis, while featured artists include Skylar Grey, Trey Songz, and John Legend.^[15] Upon the album's release, Lasers debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 204,000 copies.^[42][43] Despite the album's commercial success, Lasers received mixed reviews from most music critics.^[44] Writing for Allmusic, editor Andy Kellman gave the record three out of five stars and criticized its "lumbering, overwrought choruses", writing that "If there is one MC whose rhymes should not be dulled for the sake of chasing pop trends, it’s Lupe Fiasco".^[45] Lasers, however, was nominated Best Rap Album, with "The Show Goes On" nominated for Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song at the 54th Grammy Awards. Lupe Fiasco later involved himself at the Occupy Wall Street movement where he donated tents and released a poem in support of the protesters. He also released his "Friend of the People" mixtape on Thanksgiving Day. Fiasco has since announced the completion of his Food & Liquor 2 album, as well as work being put into a joint album with fellow Child Rebel Soldier & All City Chess Club member Pharrell.^[46]

Lyrical style[link]

Fiasco, along with rappers Common, Rhymefest, and Talib Kweli, has been credited as a pioneer of the conscious hip hop movement, which focuses on social issues.^[47] Subjects touched upon on Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor include absent parents, terrorism, Islam and religion, war, and prostitution.^[47] Fiasco attributes his interest in social issues to his highly cultured upbringing, as he describes his mother as "very intellectual" and his father as a "Renaissance man".^[47] He rejects the misogyny common in hip hop, which he discusses in the song "Hurt Me Soul".^[48] Despite this, Fiasco is strongly opposed to censorship in music: "If we're going to [censor things] that are offensive, then we are going to have to blind and deafen everyone. Come on, man. Let's focus on education and literacy and poverty."^[49]

Fiasco employs various lyrical techniques in his songwriting. The rapper views hip-hop as a medium conducive to storytelling, a primary element of his lyrics due to his background in theater.^[47] He wrote plays as a child, which had a strong effect on his songwriting approaches.^[47] Fiasco utilizes both metaphors and literal statements in his work, which he describes as "getting from point A to point B in as few words as possible".^[47] His use of metaphors is exemplified by the song "Gotta Eat" from Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, which is told from the perspective of a cheeseburger and addresses the poor nutrition in black communities in the United States.^[26]

Philanthropy and business ventures[link]

In 2001, Fiasco co-founded 1st & 15th Entertainment with Charles "Chilly" Patton. 1st & 15th is a vanity record label under Atlantic named after the traditional twice-monthly paycheck dates.^[14] Although Fiasco was initially to serve as vice-president, he became CEO after Patton was convicted on drug charges.^[50][51] Fiasco and singer Matthew Santos were two of the most recognizable signed artists. In November 2009, Fiasco announced he would discontinue the 1st & 15th label: "It was just such a 'this isn't right for you right now. This isn't gonna work for you right now. You need to be focused on you. Do you really want that, do you really have the capacity to do it?'"^[52]

In 2005, he founded Righteous Kung-Fu, a company that designs fashions, sneakers, toys, video games, comic books, and graphics for album covers and skateboard decks. Fiasco also runs a fashion line out of Righteous Kung-Fu called Trilly & Truly.^[53] He has sponsored a skateboard team and has endorsements from DGK Skateboards.^[54] In January 2006, Fiasco signed with major footwear and apparel corporation Reebok, becoming part of the "O.G" marketing campaign where rap artists such as Lil Wayne and Mike Jones designed their own personal colorway of the Reebok "O.G" model.^[53]

In 2009, Fiasco performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that employs musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.^[55] On January 7, 2010, Fiasco joined musician Kenna, actress Jessica Biel, and other celebrities and activists for an expedition to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro called Summit on the Summit to raise awareness of the billions of people worldwide who lack access to sanitary drinking water.^[56] On January 20, 2010, Fiasco released a track called "Resurrection" with Kenna in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The song, part of a compilation released through the charity Music for Relief, aimed to encourage donations for immediate relief and long-term recovery following the disaster.^[57]

Political views[link]

Fiasco is noted for his anti-establishment views. In an interview with Stephen Colbert on the satirical news show The Colbert Report, Fiasco stated his credo on political philosophy: "You should criticize power even if you agree with it."^[58] In another interview in June 2011 on the CBS program What's Trending, Fiasco discussed the political content of his music, stating, "My fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America. I'm trying to fight the terrorism that's actually causing the other forms of terrorism. You know, the root cause of terrorism is the stuff the U.S. government allows to happen. The foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists."^[59] He additionally criticized Obama for his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.^[60] Despite his strong political opinions, Fiasco does not vote in U.S. elections nor does he involve himself in U.S. politics as he believes they are "meaningless."^[58]

Discography[link]

• Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor (2006)
• Lupe Fiasco's The Cool (2007)
• Lasers (2011)
• Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Part 1 (2012)^[38][61]
• Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Part 2 (TBA)^[61]
• TBA (with Pharrell Williams) (2012)

See also[link]

• List of awards and nominations received by Lupe Fiasco

References[link]